Not Such a Lonely Thanksgiving, After All
by khollyk
Summary: With his father gone and his mother in jail, where is Daniel supposed to spend Thanksgiving? At the Suarez house, of course.  Will end up being a DxB fic, with appearances by the Suarez family, and maybe even a bit of mistletoe.
1. Chapter 1

Author's Note: This is my first fanfic, so please be kind. :) I appreciate all reviews - Let me know if you think I should continue! I know this first part might be a bit slow, but I promise it gets better!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Daniel looked at his watch. "3:00? Seriously?" he said under his breath. It had only been his third day back since his father's death, and if possible, it had dragged on longer than the first and second combined.

He stood up and put on his long winter coat and walked out of his office. "Betty, I'm going for a quick walk," he said as he adjusted his scarf. "Just forward any important calls to my cell."

Betty looked back at him sympathetically, and he knew that she wouldn't try to stop him today. "Sure. Oh, and Daniel I called George about doing the decorations, and he said he and his crew would be in on Saturday," as she handed him a business card.

"Who's George?" Daniel asked as he glanced at the business card and put it in his coat pocket.

"George. The guy Mode hires every year to come in and decorate the office for Christmas, and put up the big tree down in the foyer," she explained.

"Right, right. Great. Alright, I'm off," he said as he turned to head out of the office.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Right as 4:45 rolled around Daniel stepped off the elevator making his way back onto the Mode floor. He noticed that Amanda wasn't at her desk, and that the office was unusually quiet. In fact, only a few people were still milling around the office, including Betty.

"Betty, where is everybody?" he asked.

"Well, it's the day before Thanksgiving, I guess everybody just decided to get an early start on the holiday."

"Yeah, I guess so..." he said, nodding as he walked back into his office. He sat at his desk and reached for the nearest piece of paper and pretended to study it.

'Thanksgiving...don't have much to be thankful for this year...' he thought. His father had just died a week and a half ago, his mother was in prison and Alexis said she needed time to clear her head before coming back to Mode, and had jetted off to Cabo last week.

"Hey," Betty said from the doorway.

"You heading out Betty?" he said as he put the paper back on his desk.

"Yeah...Daniel, are you doing anything tomorrow for Thanksgiving?" she asked quietly.

He half-heartedly smiled as he stood up, "Eh, I might be getting together with my friends Jim Beam and Jack Daniels..."

His assistant looked at him sternly, clearly not appreciating the joke. "Why don't you come over my house?" she asked.

"I don't know, Betty. I don't want to intrude..."

"You wouldn't be intruding, and besides, there's going to be plenty of food, and you know if you don't come I'm going to call you and check on you all day..." she said with a smile.

Daniel smiled back, knowing it was true. "Okay, okay, I'll be there."

"Great. We're eating at 2:00, but feel free to come over anytime before that if you're bored...well, see you tomorrow," she replied as she turned to leave his office. He watched as she turned off her computer and put her light blue marshmallow jacket on.

"Hey Betty..." he said as she was starting to walk away.

"Yeah?" she asked as she looked at him through the big fishbowl window that separated them.

"Thanks."

"You're welcome, Daniel. Good night." Then she walked away from her desk and a few seconds later he heard the 'Ding' of the elevator.

He waited a few minutes and then sat back in his chair and swiveled around to look out the window, onto street below. He saw his friend's puffy blue jacket making it's way down the sidewalk, towards the subway station. '

Well, maybe I still have a few things left to be thankful for...'


	2. Chapter 2

Daniel moaned as he rolled over bright and early the next morning. Usually, he loved his condo overlooking Herald Square, but every Thanksgiving morning, he couldn't think of a worse place to be, as it seemed everyone in the entire city gathered to watch the Macy's Thanksgiving Day Parade. After a few more minutes of trying to block out the noise he stumbled out of bed and headed into the bathroom.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After a long hot shower, Daniel finally walked into his kitchen and stared at his refrigerator. 'People usually bring something to Thanksgiving when they're invited...' he thought. He opened the refrigerator, which was almost completely empty except for a half a bottle of wine and box of leftover Chinese take-out that he was pretty sure he had eaten sometime last week. He shut the refrigerator and opened the cabinet, which was almost equally as bare except for the crackers Betty had brought him with some homemade soup last time he was sick, and a box of popcorn.

Daniel let out an exasperated sigh, and rolled his eyes in spite of himself. He grabbed his winter coat and headed out the door.

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

After battling the parade crowd for over an hour, and being greeted with four 'Closed' signs in the windows of grocery stores, he finally found a mini mart that was open. He walked around for a few minutes, but saw few things that would be appropriate to bring, and even fewer things that he could actually cook. Feeling defeated he left the store and started to walk down the street when he saw a flower vendor on the street corner. Daniel walked up and picked out a beautiful bouquet of bright yellow, orange and red flowers.

"These for somebody special?" the vendor asked.

"Oh, just for my assistant," Daniel replied he handed over a twenty.

The vendor looked from Daniel's face, to the flowers and back to Daniel and smiled. "Okay..." he said as he handed him his change.

"Thanks," Daniel said as he stuffed the change in his pocket and started to to walk away, thinking about the conversation they had just had. After walking about 20 feet, he stopped and turned around, "You know...yeah...I guess she is pretty special."

The vendor laughed as she shook his head and waved, "Happy Thanksgiving, buddy!"

----------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Daniel walked along for a few minutes and looked at his watch. It said it was 12:00, which meant that it really wouldn't be worth it to fight the crowds to make it back home for such short a time. Since he had given his driver the day off, he hailed a cab and gave the driver her address and sat back and relaxed as the driver swerved in and out of lanes, cursing the holiday traffic.


	3. Chapter 3

**Author's Note: **_Thank you all SO much for all of the kind reviews! It's what keeps me updating so quickly! I'm so excited you are enjoying my story, and can't wait to write the next chapter!_

"Here ya are, that'll be $26.50," the cab driver said as he pulled up to the curb in front of the Suarez house, clearly annoyed that he was forced to drive all the way to Queens on one of the worst traffic days of the year.

Daniel handed him a fifty, "Alright, thanks. Happy Thanksgiving," he said as he got out of the cab.

The driver guiltily smiled when he noticed the generous tip, "You too. And thanks for the tip!"

As the cab pulled away from the curb Daniel walked up the bottom step of Betty's porch and stood for a minute, just listening to all the hustle going on inside before ringing the bell.

Ding Dong! Mr. Suarez opened the door, "Daniel! Good to see you again. Happy Thanksgiving!"

"Hey Mr. Suarez, you too," Daniel replied, awkwardly holding out the flowers. "These are for..."

"...Probably not me," Mr. Suarez finished, laughing. "Betty's in the kitchen."

Daniel laughed nervously, "Thanks." 'He probably thinks I'm an idiot,' Daniel thought. He wasn't sure why, but Mr. Suarez always made him a bit nervous, like he was talking to a girlfriend's father or something. Well, at least it's what Daniel assumed talking to a girlfriend's father would feel like – none of his relationships ever really reached that point. And besides, Betty wasn't his girlfriend...

"Hey Betty, Hilda," he said as he walked into the kitchen.

"Daniel!" the sisters greeted him at the same time. Hilda continued folding napkins as Betty wiped her hands on her apron and walked over to him.

"I'm glad you came, dinner should be ready soon. Maybe sooner if _someone_ was willing to help a bit more and worry a little less about her nails..." Betty said, smiling as she rolled her eyes towards her sister.

"Hey! You know you don't want me near the stove anyway!" Hilda exclaimed.

Betty took a stack of plates out of the cabinet and sat them on the table. "It's true...she burned two batches of cookies last week that were supposed to go to Justin's class," she said with a laugh.

"Well...I ended up buying chocolate chip and I was just making sugar...so really the kids got more of a treat," Hilda retorted, as she started checking her nails.

Daniel laughed, "I agree. I hate sugar cookies. Chocolate chip is way better."

"See?" Hilda teased as she stuck out her tongue and got up to leave the kitchen.

Betty turned and leaned against the counter, resting her arm on the top of the microwave. "Sorry I'm such a mess, I've been in this kitchen all day!" she said, smoothing her hair. Daniel noticed that this was the first time he'd seen her in a pony tail...and anything other than a dress or skirt as he saw a pair of khaki's underneath the bright red apron.

"No way, I like the ponytail," he said as he playfully reached behind her and tugged at it with a smile.

"Hey!" she exclaimed as she lightly swiped at his hand. Then she looked at the flowers and back up at him, just as the vendor had done earlier. "So, how was your morning?" she asked, smiling.

'Gah, I'm so stupid,' Daniel thought as he remembered the flowers in his hand. "Morning was okay, kinda hectic traffic because of the parade though. But, these are for you...and y-your family," he said quickly, as he handed her the flowers.

Betty smiled, "Thanks Daniel, they're beautiful."

"I wanted to bring something else, but apparently there aren't too many recipes that call for half a bottle of wine, and week old Chinese food," he said jokingly.

"They're perfect. Justin was actually just in here practically hyperventilating because we didn't have a centerpiece," she laughed as she filled the vase she had taken out of a cabinet with water.

"So, is there anything I can do to help?" he asked.

"Sure, you can take off your coat and stay awhile," she replied as she flashed him one of smiles.

He nodded his head, took off his jacket and went and hung on the coat rack, then returned to the kitchen. "Done, what now?"

"Actually, I'm just finishing up in here. After the timer goes off in about..." she looked at the stove. "Thirty-four minutes, we'll be just about ready to eat. BUT, Justin has been begging Hilda to go ahead and put up our Christmas decorations today, and I think she's just about given in. So maybe you can go help him get them out of the attic?"

"Sure, where is it?"

She looked at him for a second and smiled, "Upstairs, Daniel," she laughed as she pointed upwards.

He bit his bottom lip, trying not to smile, "Right," he said as he turned to go upstairs.

She watched him go upstairs until he disappeared around the corner, then she shook her head, smiling and headed back into the kitchen.


	4. Chapter 4

**Author's Note:**Okay, everybody, this is it! I can't thank my readers enough - all of the reviews I got just kept me writing faster and faster! I already have a new idea in my head, so my next story should be up soon!

------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"_Jingle bells, jingle bells, jingle all the way..." _Justin was singing as Daniel came to the top of the stairs.

"_Batmobile lost a wheel and Joker got away," _Daniel added, laughing at how being in the Suarez house for just five minutes made him so giddy.

"Hey Daniel, you came!" Justin greeted him as he stepped off the ladder leading into the attic.

"Of course I did. I told Betty I'd be here," Daniel replied.

"Well, I heard Aunt Betty telling my mom earlier that if you weren't here by 2:15 she was going march straight over to your apartment and force you over here, even if she had to drag you by your ear," Justin laughed.

Daniel shook his head with a smile, "Your aunt..." he stopped. "Would have done just that. But – I'm here – by my own free will - and she said you needed some help carrying some Christmas boxes down?"

"Yeah, there's still a few more up here," Justin replied as he started climbing back up the ladder.

Daniel followed. "This...is a few more?" he asked as he noticed an entire corner of the small attic stacked with boxes labeled "Christmas" in Betty's neat handwriting.

Justin laughed, "Yep, just this stuff on the left side of the wall," he pointed to another stack further down the wall. "All of that's stuff of my dad's that my mom hasn't been able to go through yet..." he said quietly, staring at the boxes.

Daniel looked at the stack for a minute and then back at Justin. "I'm sorry about your dad, buddy."

Justin finally looked away from the stack of Santos' stuff, "Yeah, yours too," he said.

"Thanks." The two stood in silence for a few seconds until Daniel finally broke the silence, "Okay, we better get this stuff downstairs before Betty decides that she needs to drag both of us down to the table by our ears!

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

Thirty minutes later Daniel and Justin had all of the Christmas boxes sitting in 3 neat stacks in the living room, minus two boxes that Hilda had sent Daniel back upstairs with, claiming that the stuff in them was ruined with the stench of the homemade potpourri Betty had attempted the previous year.

"Okay everybody, go wash up, dinner's just about ready!" Betty hollered from the kitchen

After everyone had washed their hands and sat down at the table, Betty carried over turkey and sat down at the empty chair between Daniel and her father. "Okay, everybody, dig in!"

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Oh my gosh, I am SO full!" Daniel exhaled as he sat down on the couch.

Betty laughed, "I know! I think I just ate more food in one sitting than some of our models ate this entire year!" she said as she sat down next to him.

"Okaaayyy, who's ready to decorate the tree?!" Justin sang as he entered the living room.

"Not yet, Justin. Let our food settle for a little bit, hand me the remote control," Betty said.

Justin rolled his eyes, but handed her the remote control. She turned on the TV and flipped channels until she exclaimed, "Oh, I love this movie! And it's just starting! Do you like this one, Daniel?"

Daniel stared at the screen to see a movie that looked like it was at least 25 years old, starring a blonde haired boy wearing glasses. "I have no clue what this is, Betty."

"You've never seen 'A Christmas Story'? It's a holiday tradition! We're watching it!" she said as she curled her legs into her body, and moved slightly closer to Daniel.

--------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------------

"Okay, movie's over, food's settled, let's decorate!" Justin exclaimed as the credits started rolling on the bottom half of the screen, while the movie started over again on the top half. "Me and Grandpa already put the tree up and the lights on, so now all we have left are the ornaments and stockings."

Betty and Daniel slowly got up and made their way over to the tree. Betty started rummaging through the boxes and began taking things out and hanging them on the tree. Every so often she would chuckle as she took something out of the box, and a few times rolled her eyes as she'd put something back in. Hilda came in and started doing the same thing, as Daniel just stood and watched.

"Daniel, come on, you can hang this one. My mother helped me make it when I was 8," Betty said as she handed him a wooden angel, whose wings were covered in silver glitter. Daniel took the ornament and hung it near the top of the tree, where few ornaments were hung and as he turned back around, Betty already was holding another ornament out for him to hang.

As the last ornament was hung, the clock chimed. "Seven o'clock," Daniel said. "I should probably get going if I want to get home at a decent hour, with all the traffic out."

"Are you sure? You're more than welcome to stay over as long as you like," Mr. Suarez said.

"Yeah, we haven't even gone in for leftovers yet!" laughed Hilda.

"Thanks, but I really should be going," said Daniel. He turned to Betty. "Thank you for having me over and turning into what would have been a pretty lonely Thanksgiving, into a pretty great one," he said loud enough for everyone to hear, but never taking his eyes off of his assistant.

"You're welcome. Any time," she said with a smile as she walked him to the door and handed him his coat.

"Well if you two aren't going to come in for leftovers, I guess I'm going at it alone! " Hilda teased as she headed into the kitchen.

"I'm right behind you, mija! And Daniel, I'll go ahead and call you a cab," Mr. Suarez said as he followed his oldest daughter into the kitchen.

"Thanks, Mr. Suarez," Daniel replied."Okay, well I guess I'll see you Monday," he said as he turned to Betty and put on his coat.

"Yeah. Or, you can always come over tomorrow for leftovers...if we have any," she said with a smile.

"Hey you guys," Justin said in a sing-song voice, as he looked above them with a smile.

Betty and Daniel looked up and saw that Justin had hung a sprig of mistletoe right above the doorway where they were standing. Justin laughed and headed into the kitchen, leaving them alone.

"Well," Daniel said, nervously biting his lip.

"We don't have to...kiss. It's just stupid tradition," Betty whispered, looking back up at the mistletoe.

"I thought you liked traditions," Daniel smugly whispered back as he took her hands in his and placed them on his neck.

"I do, but..." she started back, as he lightly put his put his hands on her waist and pulled her closer.

As he leaned in she slowly stood on her tippy toes and their lips lightly touched. She almost pulled away but he slowly moved his hand to the middle of her back and pulled her back in. She responded by clasping her hands behind his neck. Finally, their lips parted and he bent his neck, resting his forehead on hers, "Happy Thanksgiving, Betty."

"You too, Daniel."

After a moment he kissed her on the nose and they stood apart. "Okay, well, good night," she said nervously as she opened the door, "Oh, look, your cab's already here."

"Great, okay, well, goodnight Betty, and thanks again...for everything," he said, walking out the door.

"You're welcome," she smiled. "For everything."

He smiled back and walked down the steps and got into the car and gave the driver his address. After a few minutes he put his hands into his pockets and pulled a business card out. He looked at it for a minute and then smiled and took out his cellphone, and began dialing the number on the card.

"George, hi, it's Daniel Meade. Listen, I'm sorry to be calling you on the holiday but my assistant told me you're decorating the office this weekend, right?"

"Yes sir, that's correct."

"Great, I just have a simple request. Would you mind putting some mistletoe above my office door?"


End file.
